Another Beacon
by Eight8Ball
Summary: A lot has happened, yet some things never change at the rebuilt Beacon.
1. Dog Owner thinks about Cats

Yang woke up and stretched. She heard her sister give and snort and saw her silhouette roll over. Weiss was asleep too with a book draped across her chest. Yang looked at Zwei at the end of her bed, who was now waking up to. He gave a big yawn and looked at Yang and wagged his little stub. She patted her lap and he hopped on it. She scuffed his head and then held him.

'Stupid to be nervous,' she thought to herself. 'Grimm are worse than this.' But she hugged Zwei a little tighter. He looked up at her and gave her a lick. She wiped it off and let Zwei go.

She looked down from her bottom bunk. Blake wasn't there.

"You're good," she told Zwei.

He hopped down and, somehow, landed gracefully on his little legs. He then quickly trotted over to the door and looked at Yang. She sighed and hopped down, a little less gracefully. Ruby snorted and muttered something but didn't wake. Yang opened the door and she and Zwei headed out.

'I've gotta say something to her,' Yang thought. 'I mean yeah it'll be awkward but I think we'll be okay.'

She opened the doors leading outside and Zwei rushed out. Yang sat down on one of the benches. It was a little cold but not much. She started fiddling with her hair as she watched the little corgi sniff out a good spot.

Suddenly the door behind her opened and her reflexes kicked in, making her stand up and get in a fighting stance.

"Eep!" a blonde boy squeaked putting a shield up.

"Oh hey Jaune," Yang said relaxing.

"Yang?" He said looking over the shield.

Yang waved a bit and tapped the shield. "What's the shield for?" she asked and then have him a look over.

He was wearing his armor. Jaune put his shield away and looked at the ground.

"Gotcha," Yang said sitting back down.

"So what're you doing?" Jaune asked.

"Bathroom break," Yang replied.

"Huh?" She pointed to Zwei who was now marking his territory. "Oh! Okay I thought you meant-" he covered his mouth but Yang wasn't paying attention. She was fiddling with her hair again.

"What's up?" Jaune asked. Yang didn't reply and looked forward. "Gotcha." He said sitting down.

Zwei came back and sat next to Jaune. They all sat their for a while in silence.

"I still suck at fighting," Jaune finally said sounding a bit defeated.

"Well you're definitely better than beginning of the year," Yang responded.

"You sure?" Jaune asked. "Yeah. Now you can at least block a hit before getting decked."

Jaune hung his head. Yang punched him in the arm. "Ow," Jaune muttered. Yang chuckled.

"So what's on your mind?" Jaune asked.

"Just stuff." Yang responded.

"Anything I can help with?"

"Pff I wish."

"Well can I try?"

Yang looked at Jaune and then looked back at the sky. There was a moment of silence.

"How'd you ask Weiss out?"

"Huh?"

"What made you think she'd say yes?"

"You mean for that dance?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, well, I didn't know if she would say yes or no at all," Jaune said shrugging.

"Then why'd you ask?" Yang said.

"Um," Jaune thought for a moment. "Because I wanted to know?"

Yang looked at him confused. Jaune looked confused too.

"I guess," Jaune said "I thought it would be better knowing how she really felt about me rather than making up some 'what if' scenario. And even though she didn't say yes, I at least had an answer."

Yang looked at him for a bit and laughed.

"What?" Jaune asked sounding defensive. Yang punched him again and stood. Zwei hopped up too.

"You're as much of a kid as I thought," Yang said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Thanks Jaune," Yang said giving him a smile. Jaune looked taken aback.

Yang headed inside. She was about to pass by the showers but the door almost smacked her in the face.

She stopped quickly and Zwei bumped into her legs and let out a surprised "Yip!"

The door quickly shut and there was Blake clutching shampoo and a towel her eyes wide. They softened when she saw it was Yang.

"Hey," she said.

'I hate irony and whoever is writing this so much,' Yang thought to herself.

"Hey!" Yang said a little loudly. Zwei gave a happy bark when he saw Blake and Blake quickly glared at him.

"Zwei," Yang said motioning down the hall.

Zwei smiled and headed down the hall, back to the room. Blake continued glaring until he went around the corner.

Yang felt her face grow warm. Blake was only in her pajamas, that really didn't leave much to the imagination and Yang had a very good imagination.

"You ready for that test?" Blake asked, walking back to the room while drying her hair.

"Huh?" Yang said coming back to earth. "Oh, the test? I mean yeah, kind of," Yang was getting flustered. 'Stupidstupidstupid!'

Blake started speaking again "I know most of Haven's history but Atlas'-"

"DO YOU WANNA GO OUT?" Yang suddenly shouted.

Blake stopped.

Yang stopped too.

Blake was wide eyed.

Yang was blushing.

"You're...um," Blake faltered.

Yang looked down at the ground. "I... really really like you in a...I like the way you purr in your sleep." It was Blake's turn to blush. "I think it's adorable when you rub your cheek on a book you like." Blake blushed harder. "Blake I don't know how it feels to love someone other than family," Yang said starting to breathe heavy. "And I don't know what to say when I'm around you. I know what I feel but I don't know how to describe it either." Her breathing grew heavier and her hair began to glow "I think it's love but I don't know and that makes me so..."

Yang stopped because she just realized Blake was holding her and stroking her hair. She also realized her semblance was active. She never felt Blake touch her and now she noticed they were sitting. She breathed to calm herself. They sat there and Yang's semblance went away. After a few moments Blake spoke.

"I know a pretty good café," she said turning Yang's head slightly. "Would that be a good place to go?"

Yang was silent and then smiled. Then she put a hand on Blake's cheek. She leaned in. They kissed. It wasn't hard. It was gentle. This surprised Blake. The gentleness was something... different. A side she hasn't seen in Yang. And Blake found another thing in Yang she liked. They stopped and touched foreheads.

"That was..." Blake said.

"Yeah," Yang said.

Yang looked over Blake's shoulder and started chuckling.

"What?" Blake said turning. Then she saw their audience.

Nora was squatting with her head in her hands in nothing but a towel staring right at them.

"If Ren hadn't taken my phone," Nora said with a big old smile, "I would've had so many new contact photos for you two!"

Blake was red in the face but Yang hugged her tight.

"So yeah," Yang said to Nora "We may be a thing now."

"Fuckin finally," Nora said.


	2. Secrets of the Sloth

The dorm for team JNPR was surprisingly quiet tonight Ren noticed. He knew it wouldn't last long but it was just something surprising and new that hadn't happened in a while. Of course he was alone, and it was late at night, but nevertheless something different.

He was just thinking of getting out of the bed and maybe getting a book when suddenly he heard the door slam open, with a pitter patter of feet, followed by a towel clad ginger leaping toward him yelling "REEEEEEEEENNNN!"

With a simple roll to the side, Nora fell onto the bed beside him.

She looked at him with a pouty face. "Why'd you move?" She asked.

"Because," Ren responded "I don't want-"

"GUESS WHAT!?" she interrupted.

Ren sighed "What is it Nora?"

"I know a secret!" She sang.

"Nora I already know where you hide your Halloween candy."

"Not that one!" She said. But she suddenly looked toward her dresser and back at Ren with narrowed eyes.

"So what's this secret?" Ren asked.

She giggled. "I saw someone kiiiiiising."

"And?" Ren said.

"Well," she said sitting up "One put their hands on the other like this," she moved her hands to lift Ren's chin. "And they leaned in..."

Nora leaned in quickly only to kiss two of Ren's fingers. "And who did the kissing?" Ren asked, his voice squished by his fingers and Nora's lips.

She lifted her head and smiled. "I'll tell you, if you kiss ME."

Ren rolled his eyes but sat up.

He leaned in and immediately saw the red faced Jaune in the doorway. He then looked at Nora and saw she somehow had managed to throw her towel away. Ren sighed and Nora looked.

"Oh hey Jaune," and then looked back at Ren wiggling her eyebrows.

"Nora be nice," Ren said.

"He's seen me naked, you naked, us doing it while naked, I'm sure we can't scar him any further."

"S-sorry," Jaune said with covered eyes, closing the door. "I-I'll go back to training with P-"

"Jaune we're not going to do anything," Ren called rolling out of the bed.

"We're noooot?" Nora said, very disappointed.

Ren grabbed a T-shirt and pulled over Nora's head. "She's decent." Ren called to Jaune.

"Barely!" Nora called.

Jaune came in, face still a little red. "Sorry," he said again.

"It is fine Jaune." Ren said. Nora muttered something ending with "virgin". Ren booped her nose and smiled innocently.

Jaune began taking his armor off. "So what is your big secret?" Ren asked again.

"Oh I just saw Yang and Blake making out that's all."

Jaune made a muffled noise from behind his chest piece and Ren's eyes widened.

"Serious?" Ren asked.

"SERIOUSLY!?" Jaune asked finally free of his armor.

"Yep!" Nora said giggling again.

"Well," Ren said smiling "I am very pleased to hear that."

"I was literally talking to her 5 minutes ago!" Jaune said.

"How long ago was this!?"

"Bout 3 minutes."

"So she literally stopped talking to me and just went up to Blake and started making out!?"

"According to your story, yes," Ren said.

Suddenly there was a buzzing noise coming from Jaune interrupting their discussion. He pulled out his scroll which was ringing. He looked disappointed before answering. "Hey mom," he said, answering it. He held up a finger mouthing "discuss more later" as he moved towards the door "Yeah everything is good... No, no Grimm attacks recently...Mom that news report was for Atlas not Beacon..." He went out the door and walked down the hallway.

Nora suddenly jumped up and quickly closed it. She slowly turned her head revealing an almost predator-like gleam in her eyes. Ren braced himself as Nora slowly walked toward him, her fingers slowly lifting up her shirt.

The door suddenly opened again with a "Salutat-" before Nora leaped toward the door again, locked it, and firmly placed a bookshelf in front of it.

"Sorry!" Ren called to the bookshelf, getting up.

Nora was panting but calmed down some when Ren hugged her from behind. She was warm. Very warm. He nuzzled into the top of her head. She smelled like soap. She turned around and returned his embrace, nuzzling into his bare chest. He rubbed her back and that immediately made her almost melt in his arms. She then looked up. She was blushing but shyly smiling. He then picked her up which made let out a "Whee!" and kissed her passionately. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he began walking back to his bed


	3. Cold Metal

Her family members were all sitting at the table and yet they weren't. Weiss was having her dream wasn't a nightmare but it wasn't happy either.

She sat at the well set table, with the garnished dishes and flickering candles and the statues of her family members. They all sat in their respective seats, starting straight ahead with their cold, stone eyes.

Weiss looked down at her own meal. It looked wonderful, but she couldn't smell it even with the stream drifting up to her. She placed one finger on plate. Cold. Just as always.

She sighed and placed her chin in her hand. She lazily moved her finger in and out of the cold candle flame in front of her. The same dream. The same reality.

But then, something happened. Weiss heard something. She suddenly sat up quickly. Barking. Something was barking. She stood up and looked around. Everything was the same, but thanks to that little noise her dream was different.

Weiss snapped open her eyes. The barking continued. She looked over, her eyes still blurred from the sleep. She made out a black and white smudge moving around something bright green. She rubbed her eyes.

The smudge was definitely Zwei and he was running around a pajama class Penny on her knees smiling while watching the corgi run around her.

"Penny?" Weiss said groggily. Penny looked up and waved at Weiss.

"Good evening Weiss," she whispered. Zwei stopped and looked at Weiss wagging his little stub. Weiss sat up as Penny skooched closer.

"I apologize for the intrusion," she said, "but it seemed Ren and Nora required privacy."

"Mmm," Weiss said.

"How are you this evening?" Penny asked.

"Awake," Weiss said.

"I apologize if I disturbed your sleep."

"No," Weiss said yawning "I usually get less sleep than this anyway. What time is it anyway?"

"3:15:47 AM."

Weiss looked down at Zwei. "I'm surprised you're awake," she said to the corgi.

"If I may ask a favor," Penny said, raising her hand.

"Yes?"

"May I stay for the remainder of the night? I do not want to interrupt my team mates', as Jaune calls it, 'making out.'"

Weiss smiled a bit. She knew very well it was more than "making out".

"Sure Penny," she said.

"Excellent!" She said. Zwei hopped onto Penny's lap and she lightly stroked his head.

Weiss heard something shift above her and suddenly saw a hand dangle from the bed-hammock-death-trap. How Weiss could sleep under that she would never know.

Weiss looked back at Penny and in the dim light she made out something black extending from her back. Penny made a quizzical look at followed Weiss' gaze.

"Oh!" She said seeing it. "I apologize. Was it rude of me to charge without asking?"

"Charge?" She followed the black line and saw that it was in fact plugged into one of the outlets near the door.

"I will unplug myself." Penny said skooching over to the outlet.

"No!" Weiss said a little loud. Ruby snorted and her hand disappeared. "No," Weiss whispered. "I just... Never knew you needed to be... Charged."

"Oh yes!" Penny said smiling. "I can last for 3 months, 16 days, 23 hours, and precisely 4 minutes with a full charge! But my father always told me," her voice suddenly changed and Weiss heard a man speak from Penny, "Always remember to keep yourself full because you never know when you won't be able to."

Weiss shuddered. Ruby told her Penny has many abilities but voice recording was definitely not on her mind. "Well," Weiss said "It's fine."

"Sensational!" Penny whispered.

"Well it is late," Weiss said sliding fatrher into her blankets.

"Of course," Penny said, Penny said picking up Zwei. The cord was more prominent now that she was standing. "Sleep well miss Schnee."

"Thank you." Penny moved over to the side of the room and sat down. Weiss was fine with Ruby's friend, but it did unsettle her sometimes. Especially after that time at the festival. So many bad memories were from that time. And Penny was almost like a trigger for those memories.

Weiss shook her head slightly. She shouldn't think like that. That's the past. The past has always been dark. She merely needed to focus onward like she always does.

Her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted back to sleep.

She immediately regretted it.

Beacon was in flames. The gunshots and screams blended together with sounds of the breaking windows and roars of the Grimm. It was as if this was a song written for hell. She saw students and hunters fighting against all sorts of Grimm.

She then heard it. The screaming roar that made hunters stop and turn pale. Weiss looked up. The Grimm Dragon. She wanted to run, to draw Myrtenaster, to do something but she was frozen.

Suddenly a white light flashed from the top of the ruins of the clock tower. It was bright. It was blinding. It was beautiful. It was terrifying.

She could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand as she felt the power of that light.

Of that light.

Ruby.

Weiss woke with a start. Sunlight streamed through the window. Penny was gone. Zwei was too.

Weiss quickly got out of her bed. She shivered. She then hurriedly grabbed her toiletries and rushed out of the room.

She quickly walked down the hallway. Soon she ran into the bathroom, straight to the showers, dropped her things, threw off her clothes, and turned on the shower.

It was cold. So cold. But it was familiar. She then felt slight warmth on her cheeks. Tears. Stupid, stupid tears. She didn't make a noise though. She simply sat down on the shower's seat and washed away her fears once more.


	4. Red as your knuckles

Ruby slowly opened her eyes. The sunlight made her squint before they slowly adjusted. She sat up and scratched her head, yawning.

"Bathroom," she muttered to herself. She rolled off her bed, landing on the floor.

She reached out for the door handle but it was already open. Ruby paid it no mind. She walked to the bathroom rubbing her eyes, and stopped when she heard a noise.

One of the showers was running but there was another noise mixed in. Ruby walked in. It seemed empty and the only noises were the running shower and... sniffling?

"Hello?" Ruby called. The sniffling stopped.

"Are you okay?" Ruby called.

A small voice responded. "Fine," it said. Ruby recognized instantly.

"Weiss?" She said. The sniffling stopped. Then there was a thudding noise coming from the shower.

"Weiss!?" Ruby said again a little worried. She quickly moved to the shower and was greeted to the sight of Weiss, shivering, crying, and slamming her fist against the wall of the shower. Ruby grabbed a towel.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Ruby turned off the water and put the towel on Weiss. She the water was obviously cold but Weiss wasn't shivering.

She reached for the hand she punched the wall with. Weiss flinched a bit. Her knuckles were red and one was bleeding a bit. But she did leave a nice little crack in the tile.

Weiss pulled her hand away and wrapped the towel around her white body. Ruby watched her get out, grab another towel and sit down on a bench while drying her hair. Ruby walked toward her.

"Can I sit?" She asked. Weiss didn't respond. Ruby sat down.

The only sound for a bit was the sound of the towel rubbing Weiss' hair and then nothing. They got lucky and no other girls came in to make this more awkward than it already was. Then Ruby spoke up. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. Weiss didn't respond. "It's been three years, and I still can't do anything as a leader," she said chuckling a bit. "I can't even tell when my own teammate is... hurting."

Weiss huffed a bit. "You know how I was raised," she said, "I'm better at hiding it than anyone."

"I just wished you didn't."

"Old habits die hard." Weiss said getting up and moving to a sink. She began washing her hand.

Ruby sighed and leaned against the wall. "Being a good leader doesn't mean you can fix everything, dolt," Weiss said. "You're just a human with problems like everyone else. And people shouldn't expect you to be able to magically make all their problems go away."

She turned to face Ruby. "If I need your help I promise I'll ask for it," she said sincerely. "But, I need to think about what's really wrong first okay?"

It was Ruby's turn to not say anything. Weiss sighed. "Anyways," Weiss said, turning away "thank you for checking on me."

"You're welcome," Ruby said meekly. Weiss smiled a bit.

Ruby's head suddenly snapped up, and she quickly made a beeline for the nearest stall. She heard a small bit of laughter and a quiet "dolt" before she closed the door


End file.
